Baby Boy Mini Album

Late last year my friend welcomed a precious baby boy into her family and I wanted to make her something she could treasure so I decided to make a 6x6 mini album for her sweet boy.
I filmed a flip through before delivering it but I was delayed in editing it and typing up this post so I decided to just wait until the kit that the adorable Giraffe I used on the front cover was revealed to share it with you.

The Giraffe was the only kit item I used on this project as at the time it was the only component I had avaiable but it was absolutely perfect for the cover of this album.

So if you want to watch the flip through here it is.

As is so often the case my decisions about where embellishment go is decided by my mistakes.  A error on the spine helped decided how the embellishments would be place on the spine. 
I think it turned out really cute.

To see the rest of the album check out the flip through video as photos just don't do it justice.











Items used to create this album
Scrapping Fun Kits June 2019 Kit
Kraft cardstock
Echo Park Sweet Baby Boy Kit
Helmar Acid Free Glue
Stickmaster Heat Resistant Tape
Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive
Twine from my stash
Dress It Up Embellishments Adventure Awaits

And as I was time poor and hadn't created a mini like this since I stopped tutoring in 2015 I decided to utilise this fantastic tutorial from Your Book Of Memories that has all the measurements ready and all the math done. 

Hope - Scrapping Fun Kits Design Team

Today I have the second layout I created during my latest Tilt Train trip.  This time it is a 8x8.  I went with 8x8 as I was only taking a small suitcase for our clothes and a backpack for all our other supplies needed on the trip so I could not take a 12x12 background, 8x8 meant I could get this layout scrapped and if need be add it to a 12x12 background paper layout.

For this layout I took the Hope wood veneer that is in the Scrapping Fun Kits May 2019 Awareness Kit that Jodi from Corbett Creations created for the kit along with a assortment of Yellow supplies from Scrapping Fun Kits September 2018 kit and from some old D-lish Scraps from a friend when she was destashing.

 I started by tearing my papers and then I decided to use the half of the paper bag from the September 2018 Kit that I had with me as a journalling pocket behind my photo and layers so I sealed the cut side with my Helmar Acid Free Glue and adhered it down.

Here is the opening of the bag.

I created a little cluster next to my Corbett Creations wood veneer with a crochet piece from the September 2018 kit and a flower and tag from D-lish Scraps that I received in the destash bundle I bought.









I finished off my layout by inking the edge with some Distress Ink in Mustard Seed.

I love how my layout turned out.
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Simple Steampunk Cards - Ruby Rock-It Creative Team

The Steampworks and Dapper ranges are perfect for making simple Steampunk cards for those in your life that love Steampunk or for those you need a masculine feeling card.

My boys and their friend are currently creating Steampunk costumes for a Steampunk world record attempt in June so when their friend's birthday was approached I thought making a simple Steampunk Card with Bella Steamworks Mini Theme would be a nice way to acknowledge their friend's current interest.

I grabbed out Clockwork from Steamwork SKS82 and Odds & Ends SKS99
a white paper doily from Fundamentals, 3 mini distress inks to distress and age things and a Kraft coloured card base from the Francehville Cards & Envelopes Basics pack

After cutting my Clockwork paper to 4 1/8 x 5 3/8 I then looked for a card in the Odds & Ends paper I wouldn't want at a later date and cut 2 strips from it so I could piece them together and get a full length piece for my card.
















To cover the join in my pieces from Odd & ends I aged a white paper doily from Fundamentals with some mini distress inks in Antique Linen, Old Paper and Vintage Photo.

The boys chose the hat and watch from Bella Dapper Segments DPR52 as the fussy cut pieces for the card.
I adhered them with Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to give them some dimension, but as it is adjustable since it is a glue I could alternate the heights.







For my second card I was inspired by the Sailor on the Bella Mini Theme Dapper paper called DPR52 Segments to create a card for my Father in-law's birthday as he was a Merchant Seaman and he has a impressive beard so it reminded me of him.

I used a black card base from the Basics pack of Franceville cards & Envelopes and cut a piece of DPR76 Imprint from the Bella mini theme Dapper to be the base (I used the B side which is a lovely spotty paper).  I then cut a piece from SKS82 Clockwork from Bella mini theme Steamworks to use the B side as a contrast (selectively cutting wher there were minimal of the cogs print so I would have more for a later project).  I then trimmed down the Sailor piece to fit and cut out Best Wishes phrase on the Segments paper so that I could use one to cover the banner that is bellow the sailor and act as my sentiment.

I decided I wanted to add some Bling swirls to this card to represent ocean spray so I used the Crafter's Choice Bling Corners in Black and clear.
Adhering it down on the left side of the banner.  I trimmed off the overhang and used the remaining bits to create swirls on the right.














I wanted my sentiment to pop up a little so I used some Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to do this as it gave me the flexibility to adjust the height of my sentiment and could go over the Bling.

And my card is done.  I love how it turned out and my Father in-law really liked it, he liked that it reminded him of himself.
The Bling Corner was a perfect way to give the card some pop and enhance the story of the Sailor.

Harmony Day TN layout - Scrapping on the Tilt Train - Scrapping Fun Kits Design Team

I decided to pack the flat items from the May 2019 Awareness kit to take with me on the Tilt Train so I could get some special Awareness Day photos scrapped on my journey. 
I do love TN scrapping and 8x8 scrapping for occupying my time while I travel on the Tilt Train, you can see some of my posts about this Here.

I had forgotten that I had taken the scissors out of my travel pencil case so this layout and the 8x8 I created which I will share with you in my next post are featuring paper tearing.  Silly me but I love how the layouts turned out.  Thankfully I had pre-cut my photos and some white cardstock to use as mats.








I added some other flat orange items to my train stash for this trip so that I would have some options for building layers and embellishing when scrapping my Harmony Day photo.  I had forgotten to print the other photo needed for this spread so I went with a single page layout on the right hand page of a spread and I will do another layout with the same supplies on the left page when I get my second photo printed.

I brought my favourite Helmar glues on this trip as I would need them for the 8x8 layout so I adhered my layers and photo down with Helmar Acid Free Glue. 

I picked out 2 papers that worked well with my photo and tore them to a size that would suit.  I even tore a little section out from the middle where it would be hidden behind the photo.  I used this on the bottom right corner.    Adding a sticker from a old sticker sheet I scored at a destash to this cluster.
This cluster formed a perfect base to add the year to my layout.

I then added Harmony Day to the top right corner to balance things out.












And my layout was done.  I love how it turned out.

If you would like to order one of these kits please head to the Subscription Tab and fill out the form, enter May in the promo code box so I know which kit you would like to order.

Easter Stargazers - Helmar Creative Team

On Easter Weekend 2016 we decided to watch something we had missed when it was live (I love that catch up TV means we can watch things when it suits us) so Easter Saturday we brought up the Stargazing Live event with Professor Brian Cox and so began a day filled with pausing iview so hubby and the boys could discuss some Astrophysics.  It was a interesting day, especially seeing E start to expand in his enthusiasm and knowledge for this topic and was just another step in my journey as a person with multiple Astrophysics enthusiasts in my life.


I really wanted to tell this story in my album, as I don't have photos of us on the day I thought a good way to do this would be to scrap a photo of the Hubble Space Telescope  and a photo from the Hubble Space Telescope that my husband and boys love, the Ultra Deep Field 2014.
The photos from the Hubble Space Telescope are public domain which is just so awesome as it means my boys and hubby can surround themselves in their favourite photos, for example Hubby's work diary has dividers made from some of his favourite photos.


To create my layout I grabbed out a selection of Space themed scrapping supplies in my stash and started playing.

I decided I wanted to matt my photo on some of this shimmery navy paper I have in my stash and that I should have a border of it around my layout too.  I thought the border would be perfect for my journaling but I wanted to be sure it would fit before I started so I grabbed my gold gel pen and wrote my journaling around the edge of my 12 x 12 shimmery navy paper.  I cut out the middle by leaving 1 inch all the way around.



I selected a background paper from the Carta Bella Space Academy pack that I bought from Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft last year, I went with Racing Rockets as I love the Solar System map on the back.
I needed to trim it so it wouldn't cover my journalling and I started by first trimming 3/4 inch off the bottom and 3/4 inch split between the 2 sides to get a 11 1/4 inch piece.  I then checked it wouldn't cover my journalling and trimmed another sliver off the bottom and side.

After some playing I decided to make the Hubble Space Telescope itself the main feature photo of this layout.  I matted it on some of the shimmery navy paper and then I started layering.  I had a small scrap of this gorgeous paper from my Crafter's Choice Galaxy paper pad so I wanted to save what was going to be behind my photo and I cut a little window out.

I added a scrap of the star paper from my Scrapping Fun Kits April 2018 kit and another layer of the shimmery navy paper and then I decided to use my husband's favourite Hubble Space Telescope photo as layer so I trimmed out what would be behind my layers, applied some Helmar Acid Free Glue to the inner edge so I could play with my layer cluster to get it just right.
I then applied Helmar Acid Free Glue around the outside of the back of my cluster and through the middle to ensure I would get all my layers adhered down.

For my title I decided on Easter Stargazers.  I decided to use some very useful Ruby Rock-It chipboard alphas and paint them gold to pull it all together with the journalling.

I adhered my chipboard alphas down with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.

For the Stargazers part of my title I used a sticker from the sticker sheet from Carta Bella's Space Academy pack. 
I needed to adapt the Stargazer sticker to say Stargazers so I stuck a S from some old Basic Grey alphas so some white cardstock and trimmed it.  I then stuck this and the sticker down to a scrap of that shimmery navy blue paper and roughly cut around it.

As my Easter was thick chipboard I felt Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots was my best option for adhering down Stargazers as it would mean I cn adjust the height easily to suit my chipboard alphas.  I applied several dots along my word and at the S and g I added a extra on to ensure the full length of the letter would be supported.

I love how it sits up perfectly with my chipboard alphas.













My photo cluster covered over a planet on one of the outer circles so I decided to add this cool wood veneer planet I got from Corbett Creations last year to my layout as well as the cute stars that came in a pack with it.

Now that I was happy with everything I needed to adhere it to my journalled boarder but my Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots were still drying so I ran some Helmar Acid Free Glue around the inside of the journalled paper and then put down my main paper.

Using Helmar Glue gave me the wiggle room I needed to get this perfect without having to possibly rip my page if I didn't get it perfect first time.  And best of all I know my project will last a lifetime.

49 and Market Thinking Of You card - CraftOnline Creative Team

 
Mother's Day is difficult for me since my Mum passed away but I do need to make cards with a feminine feel at this time of year and I am sure there are other people in my situation who find making a Mother's Day Card can be difficult so I like to make a more neutral card at this time of year that can fill the need for a Mother's Day Card for my MIL, or be used as a card for a friend, or a birthday card, a I miss you card, etc.  So with this in mind I grabbed a heap of Poppy Crafts dies that would suit feminine cards and a 6x6 paper pad from 49 and Market (my first purchase of 49 and Market papers and oh boy are these papers stunning).

I pre-cut a heap of die cuts with my Poppy Crafts die assortment from White Cardstock so it could be coloured with Distress Inks if needed and cut 4 of this gorgeous Thinking Of You Die from Elizabeth Craft Designs and then started playing.








Dies that I pre-cut to play with were:-
Elizabeth Craft Designs Thinking Of You die
Poppy Crafts Lace Oval Nested dies
Poppy Crafts Floral Corner #6 die
Poppy Crafts Two Butterflies
Poppy Crafts Ornate Floral Corner

I coloured them with mini Distress Inks in Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio.

Adhesives used were Helmar Acid Free Glue and Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots.

The gorgeous 6x6 paper pad I used was Sweet Reflections from 49 and Market.  
The 6x6 and 8x8 paper pads from 49 and Market are fantastic for card making as the included laser cuts are a really good size for card making and the papers are a smaller version so the patterns suit small projects much better than a full 12x12 print.





My video today is my process of playing with these die cuts and the 6x6 paper pad which lead to the creation of this card.
Please check out the video to see how I coloured my die cuts and created my card.

I used Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to pop up some of the lasercuts from the 49 and Market paper pad to give my cluster some dimension.

I coloured  the centre of the small Poppy Crafts Lace Oval die cut with Distress Ink in Victorian Velvet, using a Universal Crafts Mini Round Ink Applicator tool.

I adhered my 5 Thinking Of You die cuts together with some Helmar Acid Free Glue in a Universal Crafts Ultrafine Tip glue applicator. 
I hid a smudge on my g of my Thinking Of You die cut stack with a adorable butterfly from the laser cuts.

I love how the Victorian Velvet ink goes with the pin in the lasercuts.





































 I hope this project has inspired you to create something.                               

Enjoy Everyday Card - Ruby Rock-It Creative Team

My sister in-law's Birthday is coming up so I decided to make a quick handmade card to send to her.  First I double checked with my brother in-law that her favourite colour hadn't changed and he told me it is now red, I thought it was pink, oh well.  She is into positive quotes so I instead of the usual happy birthday I decided to look through my Ruby Rock-It and Bella stash for a quote that could work on a card.

I started by grabbing out various supplies I thought would suit a card for my sister in-law including Petals paper from Bella Red Gallery RG516, a red card base from Francheville Cards & Envelopes Primary box, some gorgeous Glitz Cardstock in Rouge GZ20,  Cut-Outs paper from the Bella Mini Theme range Magic & Wonder MAW77, Fundamentals glitter gold paper doilies, a die from my stash, some flowers from my stash.

I cut my Petals paper down to fit and then die cut the Glitz Cardstock with my die.

I used my die as a template to trace the inside of the die onto the back of my paper and then as my hand injury is playing up at the moment I had hubby cut it out for me with a craft knife.

There were a couple of errors in the cutting of my top layer so they were what I used to inform where I would place my embellishments.
Here is a not so secret secret of mine, I rarely plan my embellishment placement as my mistakes make that decision for me ;)

I adhered everything down with Helmar Acid Free Glue, positioning my die-cut as far over to the left as I could without the cut away part of my back showing as I wanted it slightly off centre.

I adhered a gorgeous glittery gold doily from Fundamentals to the bottom left corner to ground where my main cluster and phrase/quote would be going.  This helped my placement due to mistakes look more thought out and natural.  ;)
I love these little doilies for card making and banners as they are a perfect size for smaller projects.

These large red roses in my stash are really old and the wire has come out of them, so knowing how old they are I put a generous glob of Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive on the back where the wire came out, hoping it will go in the hole a little and sure things up a bit if needed.  And then stuck them down where they needed to go.

I carefully cut the quote/phrase I wanted from the Cut Outs paper from Magic and Wonder and adhered it to my card.

I then cut up one of my Crafter's Choice bling corners and added bits to my flower clusters.













What did I say about mistakes informing my decisions.
I didn't get a photo of the original completed card as when I saw my mistake I had to act quickly and then I got caught up in adding bits to fix it.
It turns out my card base was back to front so my card was opening weirdly.  The quote was the most recently stuck down item so thanking my lucky stars I used wet glue and it wasn't dry on that one item yet I carefully peeled it up and flipped things around so what was the bottom left is now the top right and glued my quote back down.

This then lead to my adding some satin ribbon roses from my stash as what was now my bottom left cluster felt like it needed more and to balance it it meant the top right cluster needed one too.
So don't panic when you make a mistake when creating, make the mistake work for you.  :)